Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Williamstown: Camille Pissarro may have used his canvas to express his anarchist leanings— eschewing society portraiture to paint humble household staff at work, peasants laboring in the fields, and bustling marketplace scenes, in addition to his luminous landscapes— but the crowd that gathered at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Saturday, June 11 to preview Pissarro's People was cut from (or at least wearing) finer cloth than the subjects depicted by the "dean of Impressionism." After last year's somewhat soggy Spanish soiree for the Picasso Looks at Degas exhibition, the Clark's weather-wary director of special projects, Julie Chase, transformed the museum's entry atrium and bookstore into a Provencale market, filled with flowers and French fare (Pâté de Campagne, Mousse de Volaille, quiches, crepes, frites, Pissaladière, assortments of cheese, fruit, and vegetables) prepared by in-house caterer Esteva and served from charming carts. Guests avidly toured the Pissarro show and the other galleries; those heading for Gallery 2 for an after-hours encounter with the famed Impressionist collection were surprised to find in its place a one-night-only dance hall with a jazz band, as well as the summer exhibition Spaces: Photographs by Candida Hofer and Thomas Struth. (The Clark's Impressionist masterpieces are on their first-ever international tour.) The evening concluded at the Stone Hill Center, where three monumental works by the Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui (in photo, above, with Andree Carroon) are on view through October 16. Though the evening was chilly, the rain held off so that guests could enjoy desserts and Champagne along with the incomparable view from the Stone Hill Center terrace.
Kathy McNight, Joe Small, and Alice Small; Clark registrar Jenn Harr, curatorial coordinator Teresa O'Toole, and Annie Rybka;
Williamstown Art Conservation Center director Thomas Branchick, Mary Kontarasis, and Sheila Stone; Albany Law School professor Stephen Cooper, Southern Vermont College president Karen Gross, and 1Berkshire, Inc. CEO Stuart Chase.
Pissarro's People curator Richard Brettell flanked by anthropology professor Caroline Brettell, Licia Conforti, and Jay Clarke.
Casablanca proprietor Tony Chojnowski with nonprofit marketing consultant Cathy Deely; Mary Busick, registrar for loans and exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum, with Richard Busick, and Clark associate registrar Monique LeBlanc.
Gallerista Leslie Ferrin flanked by art collectors Michael and Joan Salke; Elizabeth Weisman and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston curator ermerita Barbara Stern Shapiro with art historian and Pissarro scholar Claire Durand-Ruel, who worked with Richard Brettell on the exhibition.
Berkshire Creative director Helena Fruscio, MASS MoCA marketing and public relations director Katherine Myers, the Clark's director of communications Vicki Saltzman, and Linda Conway; Clark docent Stephanie Johnson and director of collections management Mattie Kelley.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
